Little Mermaid's Island

The show would have been ok if the Dragon scalley wasn't in it. I like Jim Cummings (he played scalley the dragon) but his character was the worst part!

After hearing about this from a YouTube video, I had to see this. Little Mermaid's Island is a live action/puppet show made by Jim Henson Studios, back when he was in talks with Disney (and would become one of the casualties of the deal's failure when Jim died two months after the pilot episode was filmed).

Only two episodes, the pilot, Sebastian's Birthday, and the other, To Tell The Truth, was filmed for this abandoned series, intending to air on the Disney Channel. is basically made to be aimed at preschoolers, in the vein of similar shows like Dumbo's Circus and Welcome To Pooh Corner. However, instead of using puppets with technology made by the creator of Teddy Ruxpin, the puppets here are of the Muppet caliber since Jim Henson Studios is involved.

As for the cast, we have Buddy Hackett and Samuel E. Wright reprising their roles as Scuttle and Sebastian. Ariel is portrayed by Marietta DePrima, and Clive Revill as Grimsby, who is redone in this show to be friends with Ariel and the others (which is contradictive to the film, where thinks merfolk do not exist and any talk of them is nonsense). New characters that appear in the show is Sandy, who is Flounder's sister, and Scales, a dragon who is a full suit muppet in the style of Big Bird.

This is a good show that displays what could have been, but sadly, as I said, the death of Jim Henson would put a damper in the deal, and instead of this show, we got the animated series that aired on CBS (which served as a prequel to the film until Ariel's Beginning was released).

Made for Disney by the Henson studios shortly before Jim Henson died, and before the actual Little Mermaid movie premiered, this is quite an interesting show. Only two episodes were made, and as it didn't please either party, no more was ever made. While it was not a terrible show, it was probably for the best that they did not continue with it.

The puppets and costumes are actually quite nice. They look exactly like their cartoon counterparts, and the swimming motions looks really well. The background characters/puppets/dolls are mostly unimpressive, though. Some of the blue screen graphics, especially the water, is very dated. It's interesting how they made the puppets swim using blue screen, but it end result just isn't that good. The use of underwater stock footage is also jarring at times.

The characters are mostly the same as the ones that appear in the movie. There's the crab Sebastian and the seagull Scuttle, while Flounder has got a twin in this show, Sandy. The captain Grimby has a different personality in this than he does in the series, and he has a dog. Flotsam and Jetsam are also here, serving a role similar to the serpent in the garden of Eden, basically tempting the other characters into doing negative stuff. There is also a dragon character introduced, Scales, who does not really serve any purpose in these episodes, other than being an extra character with more rock-like music.

Considering the songs are made for a TV-show, they are not bad. They span different genres, and they have catchy melodies and funny lyrics. The songs are probably the hight light of the show.

The first of the two episodes is about a surprise party for Sebastian, while the second on is about keeping promises. The plots are typical for children's television, and you can't really put them at fault for having a young target audience.

Apart from the visuals, this is an OK show for young children - but that's also all it is.

I finished watching the first two episodes with my two-year-old son, and they're still more enjoyable than the 2023 remake. More enjoyable, hopeful and not at all preachy. The sets are vibrant and feel more kin to that of the animated. The remake felt like you were watching Pan's labyrinth but set under water. Although the performances may be over the top and rather campy, The target demographic are young enough for it to entertain rather than annoy. I am really impressively managed to get back some of the original voice artists to once again perform their original characters.

Watch with a child and it'll be enjoyable. Watch without and be warned 😂

I enjoy perusing YouTube from time to time to see what sorts of oddities I can find. One search term I've used a few times is 'failed television pilots'...and that is how I found "Little Mermaid's Island"...a failed show that was a collaboration between Jim Henson and Disney. It was among the last projects that Henson worked on before his untimely death.

When I began watching, I realized that I am not the best reviewer for this one. After all, the show is clearly targeted towards young viewers...perhaps up to about age 6 or 7. So, keep this in mind...as I am a middle-aged guy, not some kid.

So was it any good? It was okay...not bad. The puppets were sometimes pretty good...sometimes flat and expressionless even when they talked. But the content seemed very similar to a lot of kids shows I watched with my daughters when they were younger. Not a terrible show, but I could see why Henson wasn't happy with it...his puppets were really capable of more.